In a world hit by a wave of mutations transforming humans into animals, François does everything he can to save his wife. As some of the creatures disappear into a nearby forest, he and their son embark on a quest that will change their lives.
The Animal Kingdom is directed by Thomas Cailley who previously directed Love at First Flight (2014).
The Animal Kingdom is definitely an interesting one for sure, the film takes place in a world where humans gradually transform into animals. We follow François (played by Roman Duris) and his son Émile (played by Paul Kircher) who go on a journey together which becomes quite an experience.
Going into this movie I did not really know what to expect, but the movie delivers quite well, for starters the performances from both Kricher and Duris are fantastic. The father and son bond works incredibly well and the two share a lot of heartwarming moments between one another, the body horror elements are quite neat as well with some neat looking visuals. The theme of change is present throughout the film and how the characters have to go through it, although this isn’t something new as many films before have explored this before. The way the film goes about it with the whole animal transformation element makes it much more interesting and in a way sort of sad.
If there’s one major criticism it’s most definitely the running time which is 130 minutes long, the ideas of the film start to lose steam towards the end due to just how long the film goes on and it starts to repeat itself a bit. It also does lose its focus towards the end as well, like it almost forgets what it’s exactly trying to say.
However that really is not enough to stop the film from being quite beautiful, it’s a beautifully told film with a mix of great makeup and visual effects that do a really great job of telling the story. Some of the film’s strongest moments is Émile interacting with the animals, you can tell through the expressive visual effects and makeup the feelings and actions of the animals and what they are thinking. Which really fits for this movie!
Overall The Animal Kingdom might not be saying anything incredibly new but it is a very interesting film that executes its ideas quite well for the most part!
The Animal Kingdom is available on all VOD platforms.
Po must train a new warrior when he’s chosen to become the spiritual leader of the Valley of Peace. However, when a powerful shape-shifting sorceress sets her eyes on his Staff of Wisdom, he suddenly realizes he’s going to need some help. Teaming up with a quick-witted corsac fox, Po soon discovers that heroes can be found in the most unexpected places.
Kung Fu Panda 4 is directed by Mike Mitchell director of Sky High (2005), Shrek Forever After (2010), Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011), Lego Movie 2 (2019) and a few others. Kung Fu Panda 4 is the fourth installment of the Kung Fu Panda franchise and is a sequel to Kung Fu Panda 3.
Kung Fu Panda has a been a consistently great series, it might not be some of my favorite animated films but they are always a blast and work mainly due to the mix of jokes, action and the cast. The third movie is definitely the weakest of the trilogy but it still had its charming moments and was honestly a nice wrap up to the story.
Kung Fu Panda 4 is what happens when you try to replicate what the trilogy did but somehow fall short, what mainly works here is Jack Black, Viola Davis, James Hong and Bryan Cranston turning in great performances. Jack Black of course does a fantastic job as Po, even if the writing is much weaker this time around he still manages to squeeze in his charm. Viola Davis plays the villain of the movie which while Davis gives a strong performance the villain “The Chameleon” is just such a disappointing villain. Kung Fu Panda has always had some really solid villains in the past so it’s huge let down to see this one go to waste. The Chameleon is lacking in personality despite Viola Davis’s best efforts.
The action scenes are quite neat combined with the animation complimenting them quite well, there’s no denying the movie looks great. Unfortunately what hurts Kung Fu Panda 4 is the writing issues and the many odd decisions this movie went with. For starters a lot of character absences are very noticeable, which while they are technically in the movie they are turned into nostalgia bait and cameos. Particularly The Furious Five who are pretty much cameos as well as Tai Lung being used for nostalgia bait.
The main idea of the movie is Po deciding who will be his successor unfortunately Zhen (played by Awkwafina is the one, I like the idea of the character but the character development is just not there at all, it doesn’t help that yet again Awkwafina turns in another lacking performance that really just feels like she’s playing herself.
It’s really no wonder there was so much behind the scenes drama with the script and which characters were going to be used in the movie. Because a lot of the decision making feels incredibly rushed and last minute, which is such a huge disappointment because the previous three movies had such great pacing and never felt poorly put together.
Overall there is really nothing that standouts with Kung Fu Panda 4 it has it’s positives and isn’t the worst movie out there, but when you compare it to the trilogy it’s a huge let down.
When the love of her life gets engaged to her friend, Maddie puts her feelings aside to be a bridesmaid at their wedding in Ireland. Days before the wedding, Maddie makes a spontaneous wish for true love, only to wake up as the bride-to-be.
Irish Wish is directed by Janeen Damian who previously directed Falling For Christmas (2022).
While I was watching Irish Wish I kept thinking to myself “was I too soft on Falling For Christmas?” The real Lindsay Lohan comeback movie (not Among The Shadows) but then when the credits rolled….I realized I wasn’t soft Irish Wish is just somehow worse.
At the very least Falling For Christmas was a very cheesy Christmas movie that you can put on during the holidays and have a decent time with it. Irish Wish is if you took every single romantic comedy element, blended it into one movie and somehow made each one more forgettable than the last. It’s the equivalent of a Hallmark movie that has nothing new to say or add to the romantic comedy genre.
Lindsay Lohan turns in a fine enough performance as does everyone else, but there’s nothing about their characters that invests the viewer at all. I’m not expecting deep and rich character development from a Netflix romantic comedy, but at the very least make your characters more than walking talking cliches because that’s all they really are here.
Despite my issues I will say you could do a lot worse than Irish Wish, there are some cute moments and the movie itself isn’t necessarily horrendous it’s just very predictable and cliched. The exact same thing I’ve said about other Netflix romantic comedies in the past can be applied here with Irish Wish.
Kaitlyn, a teen, is reeling from her parents’ divorce and the pending loss of her home. She and her best friend hope to solve her mother’s financial woes by stealing a valuable bird, but Kaitlyn, instead, forms a bond with the owner, giving her a new outlook on life.
Little Wing is directed by Dean Israelite director of Project Almanac (2015) and Power Rangers (2017). The film is based on a magazine article of the same name by Susan Orlean.
Little Wing is basically if you took any given coming of age film element and threw in pigeons into the mix. Which I will give the movie this, it does a fine enough job of explaining the whole sport of pigeon racing. But unfortunately despite being about pigeons the rest of the movie is actually quite cliched.
After stealing and selling a valuable racing pigeon to the Russian Pigeon Mafia, Caitlin (played by Brooklyn Prince) gets caught by the pigeon breeder (played by Brian Cox) instead of getting police involved he has her work with him to recover the pigeon. From that basic summary alone you probably have a good idea what ends up happening and whatever you guessed you are more than likely correct.
Brooklyn Prince and Brian Cox give decent performances and I do like some of the moments where Caitlin starts to appreciate the pigeons a lot more as the movie goes on, but so much about the pigeons goes incredibly unexplored here. The movie is certainly at it’s best when it’s talking about pigeon racing or about the birds themselves, but unfortunately the movie mainly sticks with a dull coming of age story that we have seen countless times before.
There really isn’t much else to be said here, Little Wing could have actually been a somewhat interesting movie if they went much further with the idea and less on the coming of age film element.
A recently bereaved teenage girl goes to live with her grandmother in a secluded woodland house, unaware that sinister forces lurk within.
Alice In Terrorland is directed by Richard John Taylor a director who’s directed a bunch of very low budget films such as The Winter Witch (2022), The Haunting of Pendle Hill (2022) and a few others.
I’m not going to say a horror version of the classic Alice in Wonderland can’t work, the movie already has a bunch of pretty weird and creepy elements that you could easily fit into a horror film…that is if you actually try.
Alice In Terrorland is one of those movies where it really does seem like nobody cared, you can immediately tell due to how poor the lighting is. It’s so dark to the point where you can’t make out what exactly is going on here. I get this movie was made with a very low budget, but I have seen very low budget films with excellent lighting, heck I have seen films made by YouTubers with better lighting what exactly is going on here?
The acting is about what you would expect, it’s terrible but not in a fun way. A saving grace for this movie could have been that the acting was so bad it’s hilarious, but unfortunately it’s just incredibly dull. The Alice In Wonderland characters are about as bad as the characters from Winnie The Pooh were in Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey. They aren’t nearly as interesting or well written as they were in the original story.
This movie also completely fails to feel as magical, creative, or have this sense of wonder. It’s all written as if it was this huge grimdark fanfiction someone read online and wrote a script based on it. Complete and total disaster, don’t waste your time.
Alice In Terrorland is available on all VOD Platforms.
Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the universe, he must prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.
Dune: Part II is directed by Denis Villeneuve director of Incendies (2010), Prisoners (2013), Enemy (2013), Sicario (2015), Arrival (2016), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Dune (2021) and a few others.
What is there to say about Denis Villeneuve that hasn’t been said already? Villeneuve has quickly become one of the best directors currently working today and Dune (2021) was just one of his many excellent films, it was one of my favorite films from that year and I was very interested to see how Villeneuve would be able to top it…let me tell you he did more than just top it, he made arguably one of the best sequels ever made.
Let’s start with the cast because that’s one of the film’s strongest parts, everyone does a fantastic job here each bring something truly special to the film some of which give career best performances. Timothee Chalamet once again shows he was an excellent choice to play Paul Atreides we get to see his character do a complete turn and it’s quite haunting to see, Chalamet’s powerful and intimidating performance (especially towards the end) only furthers this when he becomes power hungry and it takes over his mind, it’s a huge display of incredibly strong acting that makes Chalamet one of the most interesting actors working today.
Zendaya has a much bigger part in the story this time around and she does an excellent job here, she plays Chani incredibly well and her chemistry with Timothee Chalamet is some of the film’s highlights. There’s so many incredibly moments with Zendaya that truly shows that she is a powerhouse like the little moments of Chani and Paul looking out into the desert which only shows how much bigger this film is in scale (more on that in a bit). Zendaya might not have anything grand in the film, but all of the little moments plus the bigger ones make her performance quite excellent.
Rebecca Ferguson was excellent in Dune (2021) and she is just as excellent here arguably even better, she gives a haunting and powerful performance as Lady Jessica and her interactions with Alia Atreides (voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy) is haunting in it’s own right and builds on what is to come in the film, Ferguson is probably my absolute favorite from the film mainly due to just how raw she goes with her performance, especially when the script gives her so much to work with. She takes advantage of every single moment she can to make this performance outstanding.
Austin Butler gives an absolutely insane performance that I truly did not expect coming at all, he plays Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen an absolutely crazy and bloodthirsty fighter, this is definitely a career best performance for Butler who really goes all out and never holds back. There is one particular action scene with Timothee Chalamet and Austin Butler that truly standouts and is quite intense as well. From the atmosphere and tension it truly is a masterwork of a scene. The atmosphere when Butler enters the film is a very noticeable change in a very good way, intimidation sets in and becomes so much more darker as well.
The rest of the cast are phenomenal, Florence Pugh gives a very strong performance as always even if she doesn’t get the most screentime her acting still brings so much to the film. Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Léa Seydoux, Dave Bautista and Christopher Walken are incredibly solid here each of which bring power to the film some of them definitely get more screentime than others but as I said before even when someone is given little screentime in Dune: Part Two they still add so much to the film.
The writing is truly excellent here, there’s so much attention to detail with the script and how it progresses the story as well. It moves at a natural pace and has the atmosphere to back it up, it’s written in this way where it might seem like a regular journey at the beginning but becomes far more darker as it progresses. It explores the world of Dune quite a lot more than the first film and that film did such a good job of exploring it already. But here we get so much more additional information and so many highlights of what makes the world so big, the writing also helps connect these characters and why the viewer should invest in them. The character work is truly incredible, the little moments help build the characters just as much as the big moments do which is truly fascinating.
As I said earlier the scale in this film is far bigger than it was in the first film, that’s mainly due to how much exploration there really is here and of course the visuals which are quite an accomplishment on their own, the sandworms, action scenes and cinematography all combine together to create some of the most visually striking and beautiful visuals ever put to film. Heck even after watching the film I still felt like I didn’t explore everything due to just how much is on screen in so many different moments.
Lastly we have Denis Villeneuve’s direction which is truly outstanding, as I said at the beginning Villeneuve not only made an incredible sequel to Dune (2021) that topped it he made arguably one of the best sequels ever made. Everything he does in this film truly shows excellent he really is in his craft and will go further and beyond to top the previous film. Dune: Part Two really shows how the medium of film is special artists like Villeneuve take you into a world that you never thought you would be so invested in and you eventually feel like you are right there with the characters. Dune: Part Two is truly something incredibly special and very rare, it really does feel like you are watching an event happen before your eyes. If you haven’t already be sure to check this one out.
Six months into a solitary research mission to the edge of the solar system, an astronaut, Jakub (Adam Sandler), realizes that the marriage he left behind might not be waiting for him when he returns to Earth. Desperate to fix things with his wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan), he is helped by a mysterious creature from the beginning of time he finds hiding in the bowels of his ship. Hanuš (voiced by Paul Dano) works with Jakub to make sense of what went wrong before it is too late.
Spaceman is directed by Johan Renck who has directed Downloading Nancy (2008) but is mostly known for his TV work especially Chernobyl (2019).
Spaceman has Adam Sandler in another more dramatic role which I always felt is where he shines the best and this movie is no exception. What did surprise me about this movie however is the direction they went with, while I certainly don’t think this movie is for everyone and will not work for others I couldn’t help but seriously love what this movie did.
As said earlier Adam Sandler gives such a solid performance here, he plays an astronaut named Jakub who’s all alone which centers around this film’s main theme…loneliness it’s not until we are introduced to a space spider named Hanuš who is voiced by Paul Dano that we see the theme of loneliness come into play. Hanuš is a very empathetic character who talks to Jakub about life and at some points human connections but at the same time Dano’s voice sends chills down the viewer’s spine, its haunting and really reminded me of Ansem and Xemnas both from the video game series Kingdom Hearts.
The supporting cast is also quite great here, I was pretty surprised to see Kunal Nayyar (The Big Bang Theory) give a much more heavy and subtle performance which is not seen very often. His character isn’t anything incredible but his performance is enough to leave a lasting impression on the viewer. Carey Mulligan while having a character who really does not have a whole lot going on, it’s her performance that makes it work in the end it does show how incredibly talented Mulligan really is even when she doesn’t have a whole lot to work with.
Max Richter’s score combined with Adam Sandler’s raw performance of him talking about his loneliness and sadness while Paul Dano is talking to him is truly beautiful, it create a very powerful picture that while it is slowly paced but if you are into the story you find yourself completely brought into it. Theres no denying that Spaceman shares a lot of similarities to Ad Astra, Interstellar and even at some points Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind but the movie uses the ideas and manages to make them it’s own. Particularly using Hanuš and Jakob’s discussion as a way to use ideas but do a lot more than just slap them on and call it day, the discussions between the two are incredibly investing and at some points bring a tear to your eye.
Overall Spaceman is not for everyone but if you read the plot and it sounds like something you are into I recommend giving it a go!
When Jessica moves back into her childhood home with her family, her youngest stepdaughter, Alice, finds a stuffed bear named Chauncey. As Alice’s behavior becomes more and more concerning, Jessica intervenes only to realize that Chauncey is much more than the stuffed toy bear she believed him to be.
Imaginary is directed by Jeff Wadlow director of Cry Wolf (2005), Never Back Down (2008), Prey (2007), Kick-Ass 2 (2013), True Memoirs Of an International Assassin (2016), Truth Or Dare (2018), Fantasy Island (2020) and The Curse Of Bridge Hollow (2022).
I have shared my opinion on Jeff Wadlow before he’s one of the worst horror film directors working today especially with his Blumhouse movies and Imaginary is no exception.
Imaginary starts out as a typical story of a family moving into a new house until a stuffed teddy bear named Chauncey which Alice (played by Pyper Braun) grows attached to but Chauncey starts to become more sinister. The first two acts of the movie are painful to sit through, a lot of it is terrible dialogue mixed with tired horror tropes that do very little to make the movie standout. Whats strange about this is the movie takes itself quite seriously during the first two acts but then suddenly decides not to during the final act. Granted there are some hilariously bad moments but not nearly enough for someone to sit through a majority of this movie.
DeWanda Wise gives a solid performance but like other positives about Imaginary it’s not enough to save it, she’s given such a terrible script to work that while does somewhat establish her character Jessica it’s very surface level at best. The exact same can be said for Pyper Braun, she gives a decent performance and is one of the better child performances I’ve seen so far this year. However much like Wise we really do not get a whole lot from her character.
There’s one part in particular that’s straight up a clone of Insidious and its series, some people call it a reskin which is quite accurate. As silly as the Insidious movies got later down the line at the very least they were entertaining, outside of maybe two or three moments Imaginary is completely dull and even fails when it’s trying to use the ideas from Insidious. I absolutely feel sorry for Betty Buckley who is asked to deliver some of the worst lines I’ve heard in a movie so far this year especially with a straight face.
Imaginary is another misfire from Blumhouse and Jeff Wadlow, it’s the definition of a terrible studio horror movie that really feels like it wasn’t even trying. Avoid this one.
A young woman agrees to marry a handsome prince — only to discover it was all a trap. She is thrown into a cave with a fire-breathing dragon and must rely solely on her wits and will to survive.
Damsel is directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo director of Intact (2001), 28 Weeks Later (2007) and Intruders (2011).
The frustrating thing about a lot of these Netflix action movies is they have the ideas and talented people involved they just for whatever reason always fall completely flat. That’s sadly the case here with Damsel a movie that is another attempt of flipping the fairy tale narrative, despite The Princess (2022) coming out 2 years ago I still had hope this would be fresh…unfortunately not the case.
Millie Bobby Brown and Angela Bassett are really solid here and are easily the movie’s strongest parts, the first bit of this movie I will say started out promising. While there wasn’t anything groundbreaking the movie explored the world decently well and we got to know the characters even if they were basically talking fantasy movie cliches. Unfortunately the rest of the movie happens and it ends up being no different than any other fantasy movie that has come out in the last several years.
I will give some credit for is being a surprisingly brutal PG-13 movie, there are some quite satisfying action scenes that I can’t deny are pretty surprising to watch from a PG-13 movie. However that’s where the praise really ends because you need more than some great kills to stick the landing, writing wise it’s very blandly written. Think of any fantasy movie trope and it’s more than likely somewhere in this movie, there’s some similarities to Ready Or Not (2019) which I actually thought they were going to do more with but instead is used for more blandly written story telling.
It doesn’t help that the ending feels very rushed, which is unfortunate because I do think what they went with for the ending is interesting. But there’s just such a lack of character moments and strong writing throughout the movie that by the time the ending rolls around you already checked out of the movie and just waiting for it to be over.
I really do wish Damsel was a better movie, the performances and ideas are there. The writing is just incredibly lacking and leaves a lot more to be desired.
A young woman struggles to save enough money to get her little brother out of their toxic home.
Lola is directed by Nicola Peltz Beckham which is her directorial debut.
When I heard Nicola Peltz Beckham (Transforemers Age Of Extinction, Avatar The Lasr Airbender, Our House) was going to direct a movie I was pretty interested, I like to see actors and actresses throw their hat in the ring when it comes to directing. Unfortunately this is a case where it’s a misfire and a pretty disappointing one, I get what Beckham was trying to go for here. But a lot of this movie sort of reads as being out of touch about how people go through poverty and other struggles. Nicola Peltz Beckham’s father is Nelson Peltz a billionaire who’s a board member of Wendy’s Company, Sysco and The Madison Square Garden Company. I’m not saying that it’s impossible for someone who comes from a very rich family to make a great film about people’s struggles with poverty and other issues. I’m just saying that this is not the movie that tackles poverty well at all.
Before that I will say the camerawork is phenomenal, there’s some quite strong moments that the cinematography compliments quite well, Nicola Peltz Beckham gives a solid performance and is probably her best to date (not really saying a whole since a lot of her performances are really not great). Out of everyone here Luke David Blumm is the one who shines here, while not given a whole lot to work with due to the shallow script Blumm delivers a touching performance that I wish most of the script focused on rather than the rest of the movie trying to mimic what other movies have done.
The main issue here is as I said before the whole movie is incredibly out of touch, the problem here is Nicola Peltz Beckham putting herself in the leading role and is just a very baffling portrayal of poverty. American Honey (2016), The Florida Project (2017) and to some degree Zola (2020) all explored the exact same themes as this movie did such as poverty and sex work, each of them did it FAR better and never once felt out of touch.
Even if you took away Beckham’s status, Lola would still fall flat due to such an empty script that gives none of these characters any depth outside of the brother and sister bond of Lola and Arlo which is admittedly touching but never fully develops due to a choice made in the movie that felt completely unnecessary outside of the movie wanting you to feel sorry for Lola when as a character she isn’t written well at all.
Overall Lola falls flat with a very rough script, cliches and shallow character development.
Jerome Reviews... 